Views from a Desk in Chihuahua:Manuel Merino's Report on Apaches andNeighboring Nations,ca. 1804EDITED BY ELIZABETH A. H. JOHNTRANSLATED BY JOHN WHEAT*A TOTALLY UNEXPECTED FIND IN PARIS, THE UNDATED, UNSIGNEDdocument seemed on first examination nearly as baffling as it wasinformative. Apparent at once were its significance as ethnographic re-portage and its specific import for Texas. But intensive probing for itsprovenance would reveal two other rewarding aspects. The documentnot only affords a glimpse of the little-understood workings of the bu-reaucracies of the commandancy general and the viceroyalty that ad-ministered New Spain's northern frontier provinces. It also yields somefresh clues concerning the materials and the dispersal of the "lost" ar-chives of the Commandancy General of the Interior Provinces of NewSpain.As ethnographic reportage, the document exemplifies a venerablelegacy of the Spanish colonial frontier. Great legends of conquistadorsnotwithstanding, New Spain's northernmost provinces survived only bycoming to terms with Indian realities. In order to cope with the mind-boggling array of indigenous peoples in the remote region now calledthe Southwest, it was necessary to know them. Thus, from the earliestencounters in the sixteenth century to the end of Spanish dominion,careful, detailed reportage on the natives was a key responsibility offrontier personnel. Such documents became vital resources for Spanishstatecraft then and for ethnohistorians now.* Elizabeth A H. John is an independent historian engaged in research and writing, consul-tation, and lectures. Her primary interest is in ethnohistory, with particular emphasis on theAmerican Indian, the Hispanic Borderlands, and the interplay of Indian and EuropeanculturesJohn Wheat has been archives translator at the Eugene C Barker Texas History Center atthe University of Texas at Austin since 1978 A professional archivist/librarian, historian, andLatin American area specialist, he has taught in the Graduate School of Library and Informa-tion Science at UT Austin, served as a translator and interpreter of Spamsh, and producedSpanish-language radio programs and concerts.